The Pay Raise for 2008 is about locked in. I believe that we will be getting the 3.5% pay raise that congress has in store for us. Here is an article that was written about the pay raise.
Like the House, senators favor a 3.5 percent military pay raise for 2008 versus the administration’s proposed 3 percent to match private sector wage growth as measured by the government’s Employment Cost Index (ECI). The White House calls the extra half percentage point unnecessary and notes that basic pay has jumped by 33 percent since 2001. The added cost of the bigger raise, $2.2 billion through 2013, is money “that would otherwise be available to support our troop,” said OMB letter.
The White House will lose this one. Congress intends to approve the ninth consecutive military raise to be set at least .5 percent above private sector wage gains, continuing to close a perceived “pay gap” with civilians.
However, a Congressional Budget Office report released in late June suggests no such gap exists. When housing allowances growth and associated tax advantages are weighed, the pay gap for the enlisted force, which advocates say started in 1982, actually was closed by 2002. Since then, the military pay gap has become a “pay surplus,” even excluding improvements in special pays and bonuses, CBO says.
Military associations dispute the CBO findings and support congressional efforts to continue to special military pay adjustments. The House in May voted to sustain the string of ECI-plus-a-half-percent military raises through 2012. The Senate bill deals only with the 2008 raise. When House-Senate conferees work a final compromise bill later this summer, the CBO findings could persuade conferees to adopt the Senate pay raise plan.
Source military.com
So, I believe that we will still have those ECI-plus-a-half-percent military raises through 2012. What does this mean. Well, we will still see a pay raise every year. The pay raise percentage may change every year but the good news is that until 2012 we should get one. In 2012 I should be a LT or CAPT which should help out a lot. So just remember that congress at this point is looking out for us, they are even combating the white house on pay raises. Way to go!!!
